Bob Dylan Was ‘Like a Kid’ on a ‘Spooky’ Hunt for a Ghost Dog
It’s somewhat difficult to imagine Bob Dylan excitedly leading friends on a ghost hunt, but he did exactly that on a trip to England in the 1960s. After hearing a story about a haunted estate and the ghostly dog that roamed its grounds, Dylan and several musician friends decided to see the place for themselves. While there, Dylan became convinced that he heard the dog’s bark.
The musician visited Witley Court in 1966
In 1966, Dylan was in Birmingham, England, and met up with The Spencer Davis group. Dylan mentioned that he was interested in ghosts and assumed there would be some good hauntings in England. Bassist Muff Winwood and his bandmates told Dylan about Witley Court, a nearby estate that was said to be haunted.
A manor on the grounds was first built in 1086, and in 1655, the Foley family bought the property and expanded the home. Per English Heritage, the family owned Witley Court until 1833. Under the new ownership, the home reached its peak of grandeur in the 1850s.
In 1937, a fire destroyed much of the home. The owner, Sir Herbert Smith, decided to sell the crumbling house rather than rebuild it. Nobody has lived at Witley Court since.
Bob Dylan led friends on a search for a ghost dog
Nearly 30 years after the fire, Dylan, Winwood, and his bandmates decided to explore Witley Court.
“Stevie Winwood, he came to see us in Manchester,” Dylan told Rolling Stone in 1969. “Last time we were in Manchester … that was 1966. Or was it Birmingham? His brother — he’s got a brother named Muff — Muff took us all out to see a haunted house, outside of Manchester, or Birmingham, one of those two. Or was it Newcastle? Something like that. We went out to see a haunted house, where a man and his dog was to have burned up in the 13th century. Boy, that place was spooky. That’s the last time I saw Stevie Winwood.”
According to Muff Winwood, Dylan heard a dog barking and became convinced it was the ghost.
“Now this is likely to happen in the countryside in Worcestershire,” Winwood wrote in his book Wanted Man: In Search of Bob Dylan (via Vulture), “but Dylan is convinced he’s heard the ghost of a dog! He was like a kid … running up to you grabbing you by the arm going ‘This is unbelievable!’”
An artist once thought Bob Dylan was a ghost
Dylan once inadvertently made a friend think he was in the presence of a ghost. When visiting Neil Young’s house, Dylan decided to nap in the back of Young’s hearse, Mortimer Hearseburg. Not knowing he was there, the artist Sandy Mazzeo started driving the vehicle. Soon, he heard eerie noises from the back.
“I hear bam! bam! bam! on the divider and I’m thinkin’, ‘Oh my God, it’s a ghost,” Mazzeo said, per the book Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough.
He quickly realized it was Dylan, but the musician’s appearance was still a bit disconcerting.
“I look in the rearview mirror and it’s Bob,” Mazzeo explained. “Dylan was in his turban stage, and he’d slept in his turban and it had come all undone. He looked like the mummy.”
